AM5

[testcy]

What are the best budget AM5 motherboards with DDR5, PCI Express 5, PCI Express 5.0 M.2, 2.5G Ethernet and better than ALC897 sound?

[YoungBlade]

I'm going to say that there are none, unless you consider $250+ to be budget class.

 

You are asking for premium features. You will need to pay a premium for them. Especially when it comes to PCIe Gen 5 for both the primary slot and M.2 slot - that limits you tremendously.

 

The cheapest I can find that meets all requirements is the Asus B650E-F Gaming WiFi at $280.

[PDifolco]

1 hour ago, testcy said:

What are the best budget AM5 motherboards with DDR5, PCI Express 5, PCI Express 5.0 M.2, 2.5G Ethernet and better than ALC897 sound?

PCie5 on the M2 is useless, Gen5 drives are few, super expensive and hot as hell, and don't fit in the "budget" category anyway

BTW it's also useless for at least a couple years on GPU slot but it's an AM5 feature ..  

[RONOTHAN##]

I question your need for something better than the ALC897 and the PCIe 5.0 primary PCIe slot. This reads more like you found a couple of buzzwords and copy-pasted them into here. 

 

There are people who argue that you need better on board audio, though I'd argue that if you actually care about audio, you're better off spending that $50+ extra on a DAC rather than a new motherboard. It's good enough for most non-audiophiles.

 

As for the PCIe 5.0 primary x16 slot, nothing actually uses it in the consumer space. Even the 4090 doesn't use PCIe 5.0, and it only just overwhelms PCIe 3.0 x16, let alone PCIe 4.0 x16. This isn't likely to be necessary in the next ~3-5 years that AM5 will be relevant, so why spend the extra $50 on it. 

 

All those other features can be found on literally every AM5 board. The B650M-HDV/M.2 has DDR5 support, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, Realtek 2.5GbE, and good enough audio for the vast majority of people, and it is the cheapest B650 board you can find. Get that and if you do really care about audio get an external DAC with the money you saved. 

[testcy]

1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I question your need for something better than the ALC897 and the PCIe 5.0 primary PCIe slot. This reads more like you found a couple of buzzwords and copy-pasted them into here. 

 

There are people who argue that you need better on board audio, though I'd argue that if you actually care about audio, you're better off spending that $50+ extra on a DAC rather than a new motherboard. It's good enough for most non-audiophiles.

 

As for the PCIe 5.0 primary x16 slot, nothing actually uses it in the consumer space. Even the 4090 doesn't use PCIe 5.0, and it only just overwhelms PCIe 3.0 x16, let alone PCIe 4.0 x16. This isn't likely to be necessary in the next ~3-5 years that AM5 will be relevant, so why spend the extra $50 on it. 

 

All those other features can be found on literally every AM5 board. The B650M-HDV/M.2 has DDR5 support, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, Realtek 2.5GbE, and good enough audio for the vast majority of people, and it is the cheapest B650 board you can find. Get that and if you do really care about audio get an external DAC with the money you saved. 

Are you talking about ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2? Will this be sufficient for a CPU with a TDP of 170W without affecting performance?

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, testcy said:

Are you talking about ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2?

Yes. 

 

Just now, testcy said:

Will this be sufficient for a CPU with a TDP of 170W without affecting performance?

Yes. 

It's actually a pretty solid board for ~$125. 

[testcy]

The ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 at that price is certainly worth considering, but could the slightly more expensive ASRock B650M Pro RS be a better choice? I can't see major differences in their specifications and it might be easier to find.

[YoungBlade]

7 hours ago, testcy said:

The ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 at that price is certainly worth considering, but could the slightly more expensive ASRock B650M Pro RS be a better choice? I can't see major differences in their specifications and it might be easier to find.

In terms of VRM quality, most B650 boards are fine. The cheap Asus Prime boards are not, and I've also heard the Gigabyte B650M K is not great either. Otherwise, the major vendors did pretty well this time around.

 

 

[testcy]

On 6/8/2023 at 10:21 PM, RONOTHAN## said:

Get that and if you do really care about audio get an external DAC with the money you saved.

Can you recommend an external DAC?